Low- and no-income earners could benefit from a new scheme that matches their savings pound for pound, following an announcement in the budget.

Buried in the small print was a promise from the Chancellor to make an announcement this summer on the Saving Gateway, a matched-saving scheme aimed at those on low incomes, which the government is currently piloting.

The principle of this scheme is simple: people earning below a certain threshold make monthly deposits into an account, and the government tops up their savings after 18 months with an amount ranging from 20p to £1 for every pound saved.

The scheme recognises that low earners do not find the tax breaks of Isas sufficient incentive to save. Almost half of households with an annual income of less than £10,400 have no savings, compared with less than one in 10 of those earning more than £52,000.

But low-income households are much more likely to need to dip into savings - they are more likely to face large income drops, and to experience crime. And without savings, some thing as minor as a broken fridge, a large fuel bill during a cold snap or children needing new shoes can upset precarious finances.

Most mainstream lenders will not do business with poor households. Instead, the choice is often stark: borrowing from doorstep lenders who charge phenomenal interest rates, or going without basics such as food or heating. Having a rainy-day savings pot is therefore an important source of security for the very poor.

Critics have argued that those with prior savings would exploit the Saving Gateway - or even worse, people might take out expensive loans in order to make deposits. But evidence from the first set of pilots has proved these fears unfounded: less than 0.5 per cent of people borrowed commercially in order to save.

The pilots were hugely successful: average monthly saving levels almost doubled, the vast majority saved out of their regular income, and the average end balance before the government contribution was £280. These amounts may sound small, but they make a huge difference to a family living on the brink of poverty. And a national scheme would cost around £180m in its first year - just a tenth of what government currently spends on Isas and Peps.

Promoting rainy-day saving among low-income families can help protect against the spiral of decline that leads to poverty and greater reliance on the state - even saving taxpayer money in the long term. So a Saving Gateway would be good news for us all.

· Sonia Sodha is a research fellow at the progressive think tank Institute for Public Policy Research and co-author of The Saving Gateway: From Principles to Practice, available to buy from www.ippr.org.